Portable dark-room



(No Model.)

I. W. GRISGOM. PORTABLE DARK ROOM.

No. 413,715. Patented Oct. 29, 1889.,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC \V. GRISCOM, OF OODBURY, NEV JERSEY.

PORTABLE DARK-ROOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 418,715, dated October 29, 1889. Application filed April 27, 1887. Serial No. 236,329. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC \V. GRISCOM, of "oodbury, in the county of Gloucester and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Portable Dark-Room for Use in Photography; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in conneetion with the drawings furnished and forming a part thereof, is a clear, true, and complete description of my invention.

The object of my invention is to provide an effective portable dark-room, which is eapable of being folded into a compact form when not in use, and is readily adapted for openair service, as in changing dry plates, or manipu lating wet plates, or developing dry plates.

My novel. dark-room embodies a hood or mantle composed, mainly, of flexible fabric impervious to objectionable light, and it is adapted to be supported by the head and shoulders of its user, and it is so formed that the aperture for the head and shoulders can be effectually closed against the entrance of light, but leave the arms free to be used within the inclosure.

For securing proper interior space I employ with the flexible fabric hood, at what may be termed the floor of the room, a material sufficiently rigid and of such form as will afford desirable room-space, and also a reliable supportingsurfaee for such things as would be ordinarily used within the room.

In its best form the floor-frame is skeleton-- ized and made to fold from the center upon itself somewhat after the manner of an umbrella-frame, thus enabling the dark-room when out of service to be folded and rolled into a substantially cylindrical mass or bundle. If, however, a flat thin bundle is pre ferred, said rigid material may be in the form of a flat or a slightly concave-convex sheet, as of wire-netting, paper-board, or wood.

For affording ample but non-objectionable light within the room, the hood or mantle may be composed in whole or in part of a lightcolored fabric impervious to objectionable light; or panes of ruby glass may be inserted in said fabric.

After describing the portable darlorooms illustrated in the drawings, the features deemed novel will be specified in the clauses of claim hereunto annexed.

Figure 1 illustrates one of my portable dark-rooms in what I deem its best form, the same being folded into a cylindrical package and confined by handled straps. Fig. 2 illustrates the same as when in use. Fig. 3 illustrates the floor-frame detached, both in its extended and folded positions. Fig. a illustrates one of my dark-rooms in another form and folded into a flat package. Fig. 5 illustrates the floor-frame of the dark room, Fig. 4, detached.

The walls of the dark-room are afforded by the hood or mantle A, composed of flexible fabric, which can be largely varied in its character. If specially light weight is desired, I make it of thin dark-colored rubbercoated cloth; but canvas can be used with good results if it be painted or dyed in nonactinie colors, and care taken to avoid open needle-holes and all other apertures through which objectionable light might enter. The hood or mantle must be of such size as to extend over the head, arms, and shoulders of the user, as indicated, and for confining the edges of the aperture against the body, strings at a are attached to the sides of said aperture, which, when tied across the front of the body, below the arms, effect a desirable closure.

The floor-frame B of the darkroom, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, is composed of a series of bars Z), hinged to a central hub c in such a manner that they can be freely folded, after the manner of an umbrella-frame, into a position parallel with the axis of the hub, but rigidly maintained in a horizontal position when opened out radially. The hub c is usually provided with a central aperture 0', which can either be closed with a cork or occupied by a flexible tube having a funnelshaped top for the discharge of liquids incidentto operating with wet plates. A softcopper wire within said tube will enable it to be bent, when desired, into a goose-neck form for excluding light.

For afiording proper light within the room, ruby-glass panes d are inserted in the flexible material at a proper height above the floor,

and these will always be desirable, in some form, when the fabric is black and dense; but fabrics of a full yellow or orange color, for instance, and capable of resisting the pen etration of objectionable light, would not require the ruby glass. The dark-room as thus constructed is, when in service, supported wholly by the head of the user, and the weight of the frame and whatever may be laid upon the floor is borne by the fabric or hood; but both the head and the hood may be wholly relieved from supporting the floor and whatever may rest thereon without departure from the main feature of my invention, so long as said floor is provided with means for attaching it in proper position to the users body and properly enveloped by or connected to the hood, and the latter is adapted to inclose the head, shoulders, and arms.

Some people prefer a flat or square package to one of cylindrical form, and this can be readily provided for Without departure from the main feature of my inventionas, for instance, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In this case the floorframe 13' is composed mainly of a rectangular board or sheet e, preferably slightly concavo-convex, and it may be composed of metal, leather-board, wire-netting, or wood, or any other material of proper strength and rigidity-which will not involve more Weight than is desirable. Above the floor there is .a light wire frame f, corresponding in outline withthat of the floor, and the two are connected at the corners by straps or webbing f. Two straps g and g are attached to the opposite sides of the floor and also to the frame, and they are so proportioned in length that when passed over the neck of the user the floor will be securely maintained in a substantially horizontal position when bearing against the front portion of the body. The hood ormantle is as before described, and it is used in the same manner,

but it is attached to the floor only for securing a perfect closure, and for enabling such a strain between the floor and the head as will properly control the fabric.

Other variations will be readily obvious to persons guided bymy disclosures, and hence, While I prefer the folding type of floor-frame shown in Figs. 1 to 3, I do not restrict myself thereto, because the main feature of my invention isnot dependent thereon. It will be seen that, if desired, a camera can be wrapped within the dark-room hood, and that the whole will form a package convenient in form and readily carried by the aid of package straps or holders. The introduction of a breathing-tube will be deemed desirable by some persons, and such a tube will preferably be connected with that portion of the hood'which falls upon the shoulders, with its entrance, say, at h, Fig. 2.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A portable dark-room for photographers uses, consisting of a flexible light-excluding hood or mantle for receiving and closely enveloping the head and arms of the user, a floor at the bottom of said hood, and the whole adapted to be pendent from and supported by the upper portion of the body'of the user, substantially as described.

2. In a portable dark-room, the combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, of a flexible light-excluding hood or mantle for closely enveloping the head and arms of the user, and a folding floor-frame at the bottom of said hood, whereby, when not in use, the room can be folded and made intoapackage convenient for transportation.

ISAAC WV. GRISCOM.

lVitnesses:

WM. D. Scorr, RoBT. M. BURROWS. 

